1 John 4:8 BSB — MannaFest

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

KJV

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

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Commentary

4 voices

Clement of Alexandria

The Stromata Book 4 (215)

"God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. Whose "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," neither injuring nor revenging ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. "Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" like as Christ, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching of, and discipline according to Christ. By love, then, the commands not to commit adultery, and not to covet one's neighbour's wife, are fulfilled.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as he is said to be love; intimating that this is his darling, his reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amiable glory on all his other perfections.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have found that he is light as well as love ( ch. i. 5 ), and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence, excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine Majesty: God is love.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

He that loveth not - As already described, knoweth not God - has no experimental knowledge of him. God is love - An infinite fountain of benevolence and beneficence to every human being. He hates no thing that he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for any fallen soul to find mercy.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

12 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ὁ	ho	The [one]	G3588 →
μὴ	mē	not	G3361 →
ἀγαπῶν	agapōn	loving	G25 →
οὐκ	ouk	not	G3756 →
ἔγνω	egnō	has known	G1097 →
τὸν	ton	<the>	G3588 →
θεόν,	theon	God,	G2316 →
ὅτι	hoti	because	G3754 →
ὁ	ho	<the>	G3588 →
θεὸς	theos	God	G2316 →
ἀγάπη	agapē	love	G26 →
ἐστίν.	estin	is.	G1510 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
leads to
- 1 John 4:20
  If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- 1 Peter 1:22
  Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
- 1 John 2:10
  Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.
- Galatians 5:22
  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10
  Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
Through
Psalms 86:15
But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
leads to
- Psalms 103:8
  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Ephesians 2:4–7
  But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
Through
1 John 4:16
And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
leads to
- 1 John 3:24
  Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

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About 1 John

The Last Supper — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

1 John: the study guide →Read chapter 4 →The featured study →

Love
God is love — one of the NT's rare direct predications of God's nature

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About 1 John

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About 1 John